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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by the Great Depression. Treatable with a

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prescription of the Great Cymbalta.

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What is the BEST way to revise the underlined part of sentence 3?

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Something definitely seems a little wonky about sentence three, so we'll break out our

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grammar toolbox to figure out what it is.

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Answer (B) is the most obviously wrong. We know we're never suppose to start a sentence

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with a conjunction like "and."

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So we take (B) out of consideration.

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But what about choice (C)?

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Nah, this one is undeniably wrong because it uses a semicolon incorrectly.

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Semicolons can only be used to connect two independent clauses--independent clauses being

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ones that could stand alone as their own sentences.

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"And a crafty wheeler and dealer who knew how to pull the strings of Washington politics,"

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wouldn't make sense on its own, since it has no predicate.

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Therefore we can nix choice (C) for sure.

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Choice (A) looks pretty good to us. "Who inspired millions with his words" is what's called

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an "appositive phrase."

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This means it's a phrase that isn't absolutely necessary to the understanding of the sentence

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as a whole, so it should be surrounded by commas.

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(A) is the correct answer.

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By the way, if you ever find YOURSELF surrounded by commas... may the Lord have mercy on your soul...

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